Harvard University
HIV/AIDS
For more than 40 years, the Harvard community has been working to understand the disease and treat those affected. Now, with life-changing treatments available and potential cures on the horizon, we may be entering a new phase of the epidemic.
In partnership with Visual AIDS for Day With(out) Art 2024, the Harvard Art Museums will host an in-person screening of seven newly commissioned videos from around the world exploring the emotional spectrum of living with HIV today.
How HIV research has reshaped modern medicine
Although the search for a cure for HIV continues, the 40-plus-year journey has fueled advances well beyond the virus.
Beginning of the end of the HIV epidemic?
Researchers may have found a powerful new preventative treatment against the virus that causes AIDS.
How does a virus work?
What comes to mind when you hear the word “virus”? Perhaps the common cold, a cold sore, or maybe even a global pandemic.
Making a difference
Harvard researchers have been involved in pioneering the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of HIV/AIDS.
Elizabeth Perry
During her time at the Harvard Chan School, Elizabeth evaluated messaging from local governments regarding HIV prevention.
Max Essex
As a pioneering AIDS researcher, Max was one of the first to propose that a retrovirus was the cause of AIDS. His work eventually led to the development of an HIV blood test.
Ali Gentry
During her time with Harvard’s Health Law and Policy Clinic, Ali attended the AIDSWatch Conference, which is an annual, constituent-based HIV advocacy event.
Francisco Ruiz
Francisco is committed to prioritizing scalable interventions that are developed and implemented by community-led organizations by ensuring these vital voices are leading the charge in response to HIV in the U.S.
Disparities in HIV prevalence, prevention, and treatment
Despite progress in treatment and prevention, more than 39 million people lived with HIV across the globe in 2023.
Prevention
Although strides have been made in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, researchers are exploring better and novel approaches to keeping HIV from ever taking hold.
Researchers at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have developed an AI system that can identify the people within a social network who can most effectively promote information about HIV prevention to their peers.
The Harvard Chan School has developed a highly adaptable vaccine platform that could be a powerful tool in the fight against viral pathogens, including HIV.
A twice-yearly injection of the drug lenacapavir can provide total protection against HIV infections.
Treatment
Harvard experts are doing important work to advance the treatment options available to HIV and AIDS patients.
Improving life expectancy for youth with HIV in the US
While life expectancy remains lower among youth with HIV compared to their peers without HIV, these gaps have less to do with the disease and more to do with disengagement from care and other sociodemographic factors.
Improving life expectancy for youth with HIV in the US- Antibody Therapy
A triple antibody therapy shows promise for long-lasting HIV control
- Cytotoxic T cell
An impaired T cell study is offering clues on how to retrain the immune system
- Community care
A model of community-based HIV care can expand access to treatment and sustain strong patient outcomes across the world
- Expanding care
Treatment and prevention programs need to be reevaluated to better meet the needs of older populations
Into action
When HIV/AIDS entered the public’s awareness in the 1980s, it brought with it a tremendous amount of uncertainty and deadly misconceptions. Finding effective treatments became a priority across the globe.
Explore a brief history of the virus from Harvard’s Countway Library
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1969
Sixteen-year-old Robert Rayford from St. Louis, Missouri, who was found to have the first case of HIV/AIDS in the U.S., died in 1969.
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1981
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on cases of pneumocystis pneumonia that afflicted “5 young men” in Los Angeles. By the end of 1981, 42,000 people were living with HIV in the U.S.
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1987
The FDA approved Zidovudine (AZT), the first antiretroviral drug used to treat HIV.
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1992
AIDS became the number one cause of death for men ages 25 to 44 in the U.S.
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1995
The epidemic reached its peak in 1995, when more than 45,000 people died from the infection.
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1997
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first substantial decline in AIDS deaths in the U.S.
Portraying HIV & AIDS in the media: How far have we come?
In 2023, panelists at a Harvard Medical School event reflected on how the media depicts the disease and those living with it.
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